


Sensory Overload

by crishcrash



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sensory Overload, mild tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:49:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24600337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crishcrash/pseuds/crishcrash
Summary: Dave's skin is crawling and Karkat hates to see him uncomfortable.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas
Kudos: 74





	Sensory Overload

**Author's Note:**

> HIII so funny enough i wrote this while I WAS HAVING AN ANXIETY ATTACK FROM SENSORY OVERLOAD JFKRKF so hell yeah brother  
> constructive criticism appreciated!! i wrote this in like 30 mins so its not excellent but :0000

His skin is crawling, everywhere. The warm cotton sleeves brush up against the hair on his arms like bugs and his high-waisted jeans seem to tighten around his abdomen. Even his own lover’s arms around him feel like snakes about to wrap around his neck and choke him out. 

Everything feels wrong. 

Dave suddenly unwraps his fiancé’s arms from around his torso and starts to scratch and itch at the spot. It feels dirty, it feels gross and warm and… too fucking much. He jolts up to escape the soft suffocation of the plush couch.

“Dave, what the fuck is wrong?” Karkat calls out to him with his hand outstretched to pull his partner back into the couch, pausing their binge watch. He loves Karkat’s voice, but right now its the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Sound hurts his ears and his brain, threatening more and more panic into him. He pulls on his earlobe with one hand while frantically trying to escape his shirt with the other.

It was at that moment Karkat knew what was happening. The ear pulling, the itching, the stripping naked. Dave was having another sensory episode. 

He had experienced these a few times before while him and Karkat were together. The first was after the first night on the meteor, and it was terrifying for the both of them. For Dave, it ended in a panic attack as Karkat tried to do what he did best: shooshpaps. Little did he understand that touch was torture for him in those moments, and all he wanted was to be grounded and feel normal. He didn’t want physical touch; in fact, he wanted the opposite. He wants something to focus on and avoid his feelings of entrapment and restriction. 

And an activity was what Karkat was hellbent on giving him. 

“You wanna uhhhh…” What would be good to focus on? “finish that puzzle we were working on? The Twilight one?”

Shirt off and socks thrown strewn halfway across the room, Dave pauses to take a deep breath in. He screws his eyes shut and thinks.  _ This is going to pass. This is going to pass. _

“This is going to pass, baby.” He hears Karkat echo his own thoughts, as if he’s in his head. Deep breath out. He nods at the puzzle offer. He’s not often verbal during these overloaded sensory issues.

“Okay! Let’s go do that. Do you want me to talk, or do you just wanna be quiet for now?”

He holds up two fingers.  _ Second option, for the love of god please _ , he thinks.

As acknowledgement, Karkat nods and they wander over silently to the dining room table. Jade is sitting on the couch, playing some music.

“Oh hey guys!” Dave flinches at the sudden attack on his eardrums and goes to pull away, but Karkat standing in the doorway blocks his way. Karkat maneuvers around Dave to quickly reach Jade, mutter something to her, and just as quickly as he reached her, the music was off.  _ Peace.  _ Dave sees Jade mouth “Sorry” and he shrugs at her in response.  _ All good in the hood. _

He shuffles over to the dining room table and hesitantly sits down. The cold, consistent surface of the wood initially gave him trouble, but it gradually brought him down and grounded him. It always helped to have one simple feeling. Picking up a piece while Karkat sits across from him, he begins to work on Bella’s face. 

Karkat matches his actions and works on it with him, but consciously avoids brushing against his lover’s hand. He’s so diligent in keeping Dave comfortable that if the other even had his hand moving to the central puzzle, Karkat would hold off until he’s completely done. 

Piece by piece, not only did they complete the puzzle, but Dave gained more and more control over his sensory experiences. Sound wasn’t so loud, the wooden chair didn’t dig into his skin, his pants weren’t constricting his waist, and he could finally breathe comfortably.

“Thanks. I’m sorry.” He abruptly spoke out. His words filled the empty air and echoed out especially loud to Karkat.

“Don’t apologize, you knob. I love you.”

“I just feel bad. It feels like such a stupid thing to be all freakin’ out over and I feel like a burden and I hope you don’t think I don’t wanna talk to you or don’t like your touch or voice I ju-”

A hand places itself cautiously over his own.

“I said, don’t apologize. You act like this doesn’t happen to everyone, at least once, in their life. I’ve had it, Jade has had it, Rose, Kanaya, so it’s okay. We get it, okay?”

“...Okay.”

“Now say it for real this time.”

“Okay...” Dave repeated it back, more to himself than anything, allowing the word to feel right in his mouth. “Okay.”

“I love you, Dave.”

“Love you more, Kat.”


End file.
